[b]dynamic_cast[/b]
dynamic_cast can be used only with pointers and references to objects. Its purpose is to ensure that the result of the type conversion is a valid complete object of the requested class. Therefore, dynamic_cast is always successful when we cast a class to one of its base classes:
[b]static_cast[/b]
static_cast can perform conversions between pointers to related classes, not only from the derived class to its base, but also from a base class to its derived. This ensures that at least the classes are compatible if the proper object is converted, but no safety check is performed during runtime to check if the object being converted is in fact a full object of the destination type. Therefore, it is up to the programmer to ensure that the conversion is safe. On the other side, the overhead of the type-safety checks of dynamic_cast is avoided.
[b]reinterpret_cast[/b]
reinterpret_cast converts any pointer type to any other pointer type, even of unrelated classes. The operation result is a simple binary copy of the value from one pointer to the other. All pointer conversions are allowed: neither the content pointed nor the pointer type itself is checked. It can also cast pointers to or from integer types. The format in which this integer value represents a pointer is platform-specific. The only guarantee is that a pointer
[b]const_cast[/b]
This type of casting manipulates the constness of an object, either to be set or to be removed. For example, in order to pass a const argument to a function that expects a non-constant parameter:
[b]typeid[/b]
typeid allows to check the type of an expression:
typeid (expression)
This operator returns a reference to a constant object of type type_info that is defined in the standard header file <typeinfo>. This returned value can be compared with another one using operators == and != or can serve to
obtain a null-terminated character sequence representing the data type or class name by using its name() member.
dynamic_cast can be used only with pointers and references to objects. Its purpose is to ensure that the result of the type conversion is a valid complete object of the requested class. Therefore, dynamic_cast is always successful when we cast a class to one of its base classes:
[b]static_cast[/b]
static_cast can perform conversions between pointers to related classes, not only from the derived class to its base, but also from a base class to its derived. This ensures that at least the classes are compatible if the proper object is converted, but no safety check is performed during runtime to check if the object being converted is in fact a full object of the destination type. Therefore, it is up to the programmer to ensure that the conversion is safe. On the other side, the overhead of the type-safety checks of dynamic_cast is avoided.
[b]reinterpret_cast[/b]
reinterpret_cast converts any pointer type to any other pointer type, even of unrelated classes. The operation result is a simple binary copy of the value from one pointer to the other. All pointer conversions are allowed: neither the content pointed nor the pointer type itself is checked. It can also cast pointers to or from integer types. The format in which this integer value represents a pointer is platform-specific. The only guarantee is that a pointer
[b]const_cast[/b]
This type of casting manipulates the constness of an object, either to be set or to be removed. For example, in order to pass a const argument to a function that expects a non-constant parameter:
[b]typeid[/b]
typeid allows to check the type of an expression:
typeid (expression)
This operator returns a reference to a constant object of type type_info that is defined in the standard header file <typeinfo>. This returned value can be compared with another one using operators == and != or can serve to
obtain a null-terminated character sequence representing the data type or class name by using its name() member.